President Obama Preparing to Endorse in 2016 Race, Take on Trump

— -- President Barack Obama is preparing to endorse his party’s presumptive nominee and assume a more active role in the 2016 campaign — possibly as soon as Wednesday, the White House has signaled.

Administration officials are mum on an exact time frame for the president’s endorsement but have said he would weigh in after Democratic voters have made their preference clear.

“I think we’ll probably have a pretty good sense next week of who the nominee will end up being,” Obama told a PBS town hall on June 1.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that the candidate with the majority of superdelegates and pledged delegates “has a pretty strong case to make” to be the party’s nominee. Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders in both categories and on Tuesday is expected take her total past the 2,383 needed for the Democratic nomination.

The final round of Democratic voting occurs on June 14 in the District of Columbia, where 46 delegates are at stake.

Obama aides say the president is “eager” to campaign and directly challenge Donald Trump on the stump.

“I want us to run scared the whole time,” Obama told Democratic donors to the 2016 race during a fundraiser in Miami on Friday night.

“We have to take this election seriously, because we live in a fascinating media environment,” he said. “Celebrity and fame is such a driver in this culture, and everything’s so contested,” he said.

As for his role in the months ahead, Obama said he’s brushing up on his stump skills. He said, “I’m out of practice. I haven’t campaigned in a while.”